Togetherness

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Name of Mag: Togetherness

Frequency: 2 issues per annum

Price: Ł4.95 per issue

Subscription Details: TPC Ltd. P.O. Box 909. Worksop S80 3YZ or Email goldsoul@firstnet.co.uk

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There's no questioning the slick professional production of this magazine which always comes with a free CD. True to the 'Togetherness' ethos it contains six Northern tracks as selected by Kev Roberts and six Modern tracks as selected by Richard Searling. Given the quality of the production and the freebie that comes with it no one could doubt that it represents good value for money.

Kev Roberts, being the Soul Guru that he is, has access to all the leading lights in the world of soul, and it is this team of experts who are the regular contributors to the magazine. Richard Searling does a 'View from the Top ' column which seems to be a general statement on the state of the soul scene; Mike Stevenson produces a 'Future Flava's' list in which he identifies modern sounds to look out for; Pete Smith writes a 'soul on the internet' column; Ralph Tee and Bob Hinsley have columns of a general nature; Dean Johnson looks at crossover records; Chris Conroy reviews the latest CD's; Tim Brown writes about obscurities; Pete Haigh does a section on seventies music whilst 'Soul Sam' identifies his latest favourites. Besides several other occasional contributors, the editor, Kev Roberts writes a 'Talk Soul' column. As there are so many contributors the quality of writing is inevitably varied but this only adds to the magazine's charm. The biggest fault I can find is that it does seem heavily reliant on reviews. Modern Soul, Northern Soul, CD's, Books and Venues are all compared which does get a tad boring after a while. For this reason I am sorry that Dave Godin seems to have left the fold. He always had something original or thought provoking to say. His philosophical comments as a journalist for 'Blues and Soul' were the highlight of that publication as well.

In short, this magazine represents good value for money. It is professionally put together with plenty of expert input and the free CD is almost worth the fiver on its own. It could be improved with more interviews, philosophical comment or artist profiles to break up the drudgery of the reviews. Definitely one of the best Soul Mags around and definitely one I could recommend. It just needs to add a bit more variety to its content.